Rafael Nadal showed no signs of stress or fatigue as he raced through his matches in Barcelona without dropping a set, continued his consecutive sets won streak on clay that dates back to last season. Nadal surrendered 5 games to Martin Klizan in the quarters, but was otherwise unbothered, defeating Roberto Carballes Baena, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Klizan, and David Goffin with two bagels and a breadstick thrown in prior to the final.

In that final he faced next-gen star Stefanos Tsitsipas, a rising Greek playing in his first ATP final. Tsitsipas has a great career ahead of him but he was overmatched by Rafa’s clay prowess, falling 6-2 6-1.

Tsitsipas, who has stepped up to a full time ATP schedule this year, won matches against Corentin Moutet, Diego Schwartzman, Albert Ramos, Dominic Thiem, and Pablo Carreno Busta without dropping a set, a great run to the final that saw at least three upsets in that period.

The doubles final was won by the Lopez brothers, as Marc and Feliciano beat Qureshi/Rojer, completing a Spanish sweep of Barcelona.

Marco Cecchinato had the joy of winning his first ATP title in the Budapest 250. The Italian, who had a poor record on clay at the tour level until this year, defeated John Millman 7-5 6-4 in the final. Millman, another clay struggler at tour level, also had the chance to win his first ATP title, but came up just short.

Cecchinato entered the draw as a lucky loser and went on to defeat Mirza Basic, Damir Dzumhur, J.L. Struff, and Andreas Seppi. The wins over Struff and Seppi coming in three sets. Millman reached the final with wins against Radu Albot, Lucas Pouille, Yannick Maden, and Aljaz Bedene, his final three wins all upsets, and the last two coming in tight third sets.

The ATP 250 on clay in Budapest is one of the handful of ATP events in Eastern Europe and Hungary’s marquee tennis event. Here is your full preview, with predictions.

Top Half:

Lucas Pouille is the top seed and defending champion but he’s struggling right now. Pouille will open with John Millman or Radu Albot, with Hungary’s own Marton Fucsovics likely to follow. Fucsovics opens with Yannick Maden, while his likely round 2 opponent Max Marterer takes on Viktor Troicki. This section is full of strugglers, but I’ll back Fucsovics to rise at home to defeat Marterer and Pouille and reach the semifinals.

Richard Gasquet will be a heavy favorite to win out in his section. Gasquet faces Hurbert Hurkacz or Lorenzo Sonego in round 2, with Aljaz Bedene likely awaiting in the quarters. Bedene’s path is Marius Copil, then Attila Balazs or Matteo Berrettini. Gasquet is in great form on clay and I’ll back him over Bedene.

Bottom Half:

With Damir Dzumhur, the #2 seed, in poor form, I’ll go with Marco Cecchinato to beat Mirza Basic and Dzumhur in consecutive upsets. J.L. Struff takes on Jurgen Zopp then Alexander Bublik or Denis Istomin for a spot in the quarters. I’ll take Struff over Cecchinato to reach the semis.

Andreas Seppi or Denis Shapovalov look set for a good week. Shapovalov gets either Nikoloz Basilashvili or a struggling Paolo Lorenzi in round 2. Seppi opens with Thomas Fabbiano, local young gun Zsombor Piros or Mikhail Youzhny will follow. I’ll take Seppi on clay against Shapovalov in the quarters.

Rafael Nadal’s 10th title in Barcelona was special, as it came on a court that was named after him at the start of the tournament this year. Rafa, 29-5 on the season, and now 10-0 on clay, did the double once again in is career, taking Barcelona after taking Monte Carlo the prior week. Nadal hasn’t dropped a set on clay in nine straight matches and rolled past Rogerio Dutra Silva, Kevin Anderson, Hyeon Chung, Horacio Zeballos, and finalist Dominic Thiem beating Thiem 6-4 6-1. Thiem, playing his second final of 2017, was blitzed by Nadal but still claimed a win over world #1 Andy Murray in the semifinals, and also beat Kyle Edmund, Dan Evans, and Yuichi Sugita on the week.

Lucas Pouille claimed his eighth win in nine matches 6-3 6-1 over qualifier Aljaz Bedene to claim the title in Budapest, his first of 2017, and the second of his career at age 23. Pouille needed three sets against Jiri Vesely in his first match in Hungary, but didn’t look back after that easing past Martin Klizan and Paolo Lorenzi to make the final, before thumping Bedene, who had won a remarkable sixteen straight matches leading into the final. In the end fatigue likely hurt his already limited changes against the talented Frenchman. Bedene beat lucky loser Marius Copil twice in two matches then beat Robin Haase, Ivo Karlovic, and qualifier Laslo Djere without dropping a set.

Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic won the doubles title over Juan Sebastian Cabral and Robert Farah.

Monte Carlo semifinalist Lucas Pouille begins his campaign against Jiri Vesely, who knocked off Borna Coric round one and has won five of his last seven. Pouille on clay looks solid enough to reach the quarters opposite Martin Klizan. The draw opened up for Klizan, who has been struggling, after qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo stunned a jaded Gilles Simon in straight sets in round 1. Fratangelo could follow that up with another win, but Pouille over Klizan seems like a sensible prediction.

Fabio Fognini is usually competitive on clay and could use a boost against Andrey Kuznetsov, who is seeking a breakthrough of his own. Kuznetsov is a dangerous dark horse, but I have Fognini through to face dirtballer Paolo Lorenzi. Lorenzi will face Sergiy Stakhovsky in round 2, and is the favorite to reach the semifinals in my book. He’s more consistent than his counterpart Fognini.

Bottom Half:

The big serving Ivo Karlovic has struggled this season and is not great on clay, thus Damir Dzumhur, who beat Steve Darcis round 1, looks set to go through to the quarterfinals against in-form qualifier Aljaz Bedene. Bedene is red hot, with a 21-0 record below the tour level right now. His second round opponent Robin Haase did upset Diego Schwartzman in round 1, but Bedene’s form indicates he’s due for a great week and I have him winning in round 2 then beating Dzumhur to make the semifinals.

Viktor Troicki won his opening match and looks set to defeat Laslo Djere, a qualifier, in round 2. Houston quaterfinalist Fernando Verdasco is the favorite in this section, Marton Fuscovics is a local favorite but unlikely to beat the veteran Spaniard in round 2. Verdasco on clay is the favorite to reach the semifinals.

Bedene has lurked on the cusp of being a solid ATP player and after great results below the tour level he looks set to step up to the big stage and cement his place among the players who compete week to week on the ATP Tour.

Predictions

SemisPouille d. Lorenzi
Verdasco d. Bedene

FinalPouille vs. Verdasco

Pouille and Verdasco look set to make the final of this somewhat weak 250, any outcome is possible but their form seems good enough to prevail, with Pouille as the favorite.